Friday, October 23, 2009

We've had our first hard frost & snow in Minneapolis so it looks like the growing season is over. Seems like a good time to look back at our first vegetable garden...

In the fall of 2008 Matt build us two 8' x 4' raised beds in unused space next to our driveway. Since there is a fence behind the beds its hard to get to the back so next year we will rebuild these beds to be 4' x 4'. We also planted garlic in the fall so it had a chance to spout before winter. Come spring, Matt build an adjustable light greenhouse set up in our basement to start seeds. Here's instructions on how to make one.

Cool weather crops like peas, spinach, lettuce & kohlrabi were started from seed right in the garden. We used twine to mark out 12" squares. A soaker hose was placed through the garden for easy watering. Indoor seedlings were moved to bigger pots as needed.

Time to move the seedlings outdoors. We had way more than we needed & ended up giving a bunch away. The peas grew like crazy. The garlic scapes formed & we harvested them in the hopes of getting bigger garlic bulbs.

Our spinach bolted before we got to eat any. We won't do spinach next year & just stick to leaf lettuce which was great. As things warmed up the the square foot gardens started to look very full but needed very little weeding.

We harvested our garlic. The bulbs were pretty small but tasty. Next year we'll fertilize them to see if we get bigger bulbs. Beans, cucumbers, zucchini & tomatoes really fill one bed. Broccoli heads are starting to form.

We had really good luck with bush beans this year & they don't require trellising. Look at the huge kohlrabi! Time to start harvesting.

The zucchini got huge overnight. Our tomato plants, all San Marzano, are covered with green tomatoes, cool weather makes us wonder if they'll ever ripen. Harvest really hit full swing, especially the cucumbers, time to make pickles!

We grew some super chiles in a pot which did really well as did our jalapenos. Finally the tomatoes start to ripen. We had enough super chiles from on plant to make two ristras.

We start harvesting 6 - 12 pounds of tomatoes a weeks as well as a ton of jalapenos. The frost comes before many tomatoes can ripen though & we make green tomato jam. The last of the herbs are harvested & dried.

Next year we'll do less cucumbers & zucchini so we are so overrun with them. Also I'd like to do a good sandwich tomato as San Marzanos are really best for paste & sauce. We'll do peppers again & would like to find seeds to grow some pablanos.

Ah... gardening. You guys did well, considering the freaky summer we had!! Love the idea of using that space next to the driveway for gardens. We LOVE our raised beds and wouldn't trade them for anything. Do you compost as well?

This was your first garden? I love how organized it is, and yet it looks like it was all pretty easy to put together. Looks like you did some good planning ahead of time and that it was a very successful garden. I have been thinking about a garden since we bought our house a year and a half ago. Maybe next year!